Hanley Ramirez playing through pain

How nice was it for Marlins fans to watch Jorge Julio blow a lead for somebody else? Had to be sweet. Make no mistake about it, the Brewers gave Monday night's game away as much as the Marlins came back from down 4-2 to win it 7-4.

But enough about the first game in June. This blog is about the bigger picture and what the Marlins' best player is going to face the rest of the season -- pain. Before tonight's game manager Fredi Gonzalez told us there's a good chance Hanley Ramirez will have to play with tightness in his right groin all season. It certainly started hurting him again Monday.

Ramirez told me after the game he feels it every time he runs fast and then slows down before reaching a base. "“I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be dealing with that. But I don’t want to be on the bench," Ramirez said. "I want to be out there and try to help my team win. I told [Gonzalez] we’ll see how I feel before every game. But I want to play.”

How the Marlins deal with this remains to be seen. But don't be surprised if there are times when Ramirez may take a day off to rest it. The last thing the Marlins want is for Ramirez to miss significant time. As it stands, the Marlins don't have another day off until June 15. While losing Ramirez and his hot bat (he's hitting .378 in his last 10 games) for a game or two would hurt, it would be absolutely devastating to lose him for the season.

“It bites on him, grabs on him every once and awhile,” Gonzalez said. “These guys are competitors and when the sniff out a basehit, that pain in the groin goes out the window. Hopefully, he plays smart. Tonight, he wanted to stay in the game. I told him he’s got to be careful.”

> For those of you who would like to hear the pregame and postgame interviews, check out our Marlins audio page.